Tumour Pathology

Question 1

What is Hyperplasia

Answer 1

increase in size of organ due to increase in number of cells

Question 2

What is Hypertorphy

Answer 2

Increase in size of cells

Question 3

What is atrophy

Answer 3

Decrease in number/size of cells

Physiological/Pathological

Question 4

What is metaplasia

Answer 4

complete transformation of one differentiated cell type into a different differentiated cell type

e.g. Squamous to glandular (oesophagus), glandular to squamous (cervix); columnar to squamous (respiratory)

Question 5

What is a tumour

Answer 5

Swelling of any sort, usually refers to neoplasm

Benign
Malignant
(Inflammatory)

Question 6

What is a neoplasm?

Answer 6

abnormal growing mass of tissue (tumour)

Question 7

What are the types of tumour?

Answer 7

Benign - neoplasm does not invade adjacent tissue or metastasise
Malignant - cancer

Question 8

What does metastasise mean?

Answer 8

ability of cancer to spread
invade adjacent tissue and grow at other sites within body

Question 9

What are two factors important in causation of cancers?

Answer 9

Environmental - diet, obesity, exercise, alcohol, smoking
Genetic - chances increase with age

Question 10

Why is it important to classify tumours?

Answer 10

Understanding tumour behaviour, prognosis and selected therapy

Question 11

How are tumours classified

Answer 11

Tissue of origin (epithelium, connective tissue,blood, lymphoid tissue, neural tissue, germ cells ….)
Benign vs Malignant

Question 12

What are the two types of epithelium that can host cancer?

Answer 12

Glandular and squamous

Question 13

What is carcinoma

Answer 13

epithelium malignant tumour

Question 14

What is sarcoma

Answer 14

malignant tumour in CT

Question 15

What are the other types of malignant tumours

Answer 15

Leukaemia – white blood cells
Lymphoma – lymphoid cells
Others – Glioma, myeloma, seminoma, melanoma

Question 16

What is the name for a benign and malignant squamous epithelium tumour?

Answer 16

Benign - Squamous Papilloma
Malignant - Squamous Carcinoma

Question 17

What are tumours of the Central nervous system called?

Answer 17

Astrocytoma - benign and malignant tumours concepts don’t exist in CNS - limited space that tumours don’t escape out of

Question 18

What are the features of benign tumours

Answer 18

Non-invasive growth pattern, usually encapsulates, no evidence of invasion, no metastases
Cells look similar to normal, well-differentiated
Function similar to normal tissue (if normal function os similar)
Rarely causes death

Question 19

What are the features of malignant tumours?

Answer 19

Invasive growth pattern
No capsule, breached by tumour cells
Often evidence of cancer spread
Cells look abnormal
Cancers are poorly differentiated
Loss of normal function
Frequently cause death

Question 20

Summary

Answer 20